Hillary Clinton Says She Wouldn't Have Voted For Iraq War  —  ABC News' David Chalian Reports: As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton continues to assess a possible presidential candidacy and the contours of a Democratic nomination fight, she has taken another step away from her 2002 vote authorizing President Bush …

White House, Joint Chiefs At Odds on Adding Troops  —  The Bush administration is split over the idea of a surge in troops to Iraq, with White House officials aggressively promoting the concept over the unanimous disagreement of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to U.S. officials familiar with the intense debate.

Pentagon Cites Success Of Anti-U.S. Forces in Iraq  —  The Pentagon said yesterday that violence in Iraq soared this fall to its highest level on record and acknowledged that anti-U.S. fighters have achieved a "strategic success" by unleashing a spiral of sectarian killings by Sunni …

The March to Mecca  —  HELLO EVERYONE.  I know it's been awhile since I've posted, but I've been very busy working on my book and television and web projects.  However, after receiving this press release from the Huffington Post, I had no choice but to return.

Democrats leave Bono disappointed  —  Anti-poverty activist gets no promise of funds  —  Meetings in Washington last Thursday between rock star Bono and Democrats, including Senate leader Harry Reid of Nevada, yielded a nice photo-op but not much else, according to Bono.

Desperation in the White House  —  The power brokers in Washington carefully arranged fig leaves and tasteful screens to cover the emperor's nakedness while he was busy pretending to listen hard to everyone with an opinion about Iraq while hearing nothing.  —  Sometime early in the new year …

Video: "Open Season"; Update: Video banned from honors at YouTube?  —  Anti-jihad nu metal.  I never thought I'd see the day.  —  The band is Stuck Mojo from Atlanta.  The lyrics are here; the guitarist posted some thoughts about the song on his fan site.  You will recognize, and appreciate, the sentiments.

A War That Abhors a Vacuum  —  THE niceties are up for debate: phased or partial withdrawal from Iraq would entail pulling troops back to their bases across the country, or leapfrogging backward to the nearest international border, or redeploying to bases in nearby countries.

The Bar Fight Primary  —  When Ronald Reagan announced his Presidential run in 1980, he did it in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the town where three Civil Rights workers were killed.  He faced Jimmy Carter in the general, a conservative white evangelical who had built up the military budget …

Would Legal Marijuana Mean an Excise Tax Bonanza?  —  Today I was supposed to appear on KPCC, an NPR afiliate in Los Angeles, to discuss Jon Gettman's report on marijuana production in the U.S. (mentioned by Dave Weigel earlier today).  In preparation, I started collecting numbers on the fiscal …

American Apparel to Be Sold to Investment Firm  —  American Apparel, the casual clothing chain whose socially-conscious manufacturing, sexually-charged advertising and snug-fitting T-shirts have generated a cult-like following, will be sold to a little-known investment firm for $382.5 million, according to people briefed on the matter.

Please Let It Be Whale Vomit, Not Just Sea Junk  —  MONTAUK, N.Y. — In this season of strange presents from relatives, Dorothy Ferreira got a doozy the other day from her 82-year-old sister in Waterloo, Iowa.  It was ugly.  It weighed four pounds.  There was no receipt in the box.

Election Seen as Setback for Iran's President  —  Partial returns from Friday's Iranian elections suggested today that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had experienced a major setback barely over a year after his own election.  —  The victory of a pragmatic politician, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani …

TEN YEARS IN PRISON FOR 17-YEAR-OLD WHO HAD CONSENSUAL ORAL SEX WITH 15-YEAR-OLD: The Georgia Supreme Court just upheld this.  The sentence strikes me as unduly harsh even on its own terms, but it seems especially unjustifiable given that:  —  The age of consent in Georgia is 16.

These Are Not The Droids You Are Looking For...  [Update: Malkin is retracting her post..murkier and murkier]  —  OK, folks, this is what open source is about - you put things out there and the rest of the world improves on them - so here it goes.  I think we discovered something, but it turns out probably not to have been useful.